Container for cosmetic sticks

ABSTRACT

A container for cosmetic sticks having an outer sleeve with a stickholder reciprocably movable within the sleeve, and a clutch which can be engaged to hold the stick in the desired position. The clutch has a shelf and a grip fastened to it with an opening between them which permits the clutch to move up and down on the sleeve with the grip on the outside of the sleeve and the shelf on the inside. The shelf having a ridge which disengagably mates with a serated portion of the sleeve to provide the clutching.

United States Patent Cardia Sept. 2, 1975 CONTAINER FOR COSMETIC STICKS FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS lhvehtorl Ehhio Cardia, 18 Via Durazzo, 613,718 9/1926 France 401/84 OOl95 Rome, Italy [22] Filed: Man 15, 1974 Primary Examiner-Lawrence Charles Atiorney, Agent, or Firm-Cushman, Darby & [21] Appl. No; 451,689 c [30] Foreign Application Priority Data [57] ABSTRACT Mar. 21, 1973 Italy 48934/73 A container for Cosme Sticks having an Outer Sleeve with a stickholder reciprocably movable within the 52 US. Cl. 401/83 Sleeve, and a Clutch which can he engaged to hold the 51 Int. Cl A45d 40/06 stick in the desired P The clutch has a Shelf [58] Field of Search 401/65, 82-84 d a p fastened to it with an Opening between them which permits the clutch to move up and down [56] References Cited on the sleeve with the grip on the outside of the sleeve UNITED STATES PATENTS and the shelf on the inside. The shelf having a ridge which disengagably mates with a serated portion of X the sleeve to provide the clutching 2:071:747 2/1937 l-loulihan 401 83 5 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PATENTEDSEP 21975 3.902.814

sum 3 OF 3 CONTAINER FOR COSMETIC STICKS The invention refers to the field of containers for cosmetic sticks, such as lipsticks, chapsticks, sticks of deodorants, rouge etc.

In the known containers of this type, the stick of cosmetic substance is fastened to a stickholder, which is moved up and down within a case. This movement is obtained either by rotating a helical slot within the case or by sliding up and down, within a vertical slot in the case, a pin projecting from the stickholder. The disadvantage of the first solution is that it engages both hands, one to hold the case and the other to impart the rotation to the helical slot, generallyby means of a disk located below the case bottom. The disadvantage of the second solution, which requires the use of only one hand, is that the cosmetic may pass through said slot and smear the case, and that the stick cannot be locked in a desired position, but must be held there with a finger.

The container of the invention eliminates these disadvantages. It can be handled with a single hand, it is completely tight, so as not to permit the passage of cosmetic to the exterior of the container and thereby the smearing of its external surface and of the fingers of the user, and furthermore the cosmetic remains automatically locked in any desired position.

According to the invention, the container comprises as main components a stickholder, a sleeve within which said stickholder is slidable, a clutch securable to said stickholder and coacting with said sleeve to lock said stickholder (and thus the cosmetick stick held by it) in any desired position. The container is completed by a case and a cap.

The stickholder and the sleeve may have a circular, rectangular or any other polygonal cross-section. The clutch comprises a shelf portion and a grip portion connected with it, with an opening formed between these two portions. The stickholder is provided with a slot, into which said shelf is inserted and within which it is reciprocable. The sleeve presents two vertical slots in its wall, the wall segment delimited between said slots being of a size and conformation such as to pass through the opening formed between the shelf and grip of the clutch. Thus, by simply inserting said shelf into said slot and said wall portion through said opening, these three components are assembled together without any need of fasteners or other connecting means. The stickholder is guided by these two slots in a translational motion within said sleeve.

According to the invention, that rim of the shelf which delimits one side of said opening and the slot edges forming the edges of said sleeve segment are made to coact so as to lock the stickholder (and thereby the stick in it) in any desired position, when said shelf rim is pressed against said slot edges. For instance, these slot edges may be serrated and said shelf rim may be given a pawl tooth profile, or else said edges may be undulated and the shelf rim given a profile complementary to said undulations. A spring will keep said rim engaged with said slot edges to lock the stickholder in position. When the grip of said clutch is pressed against said spring bias, the stickholder will be disengaged to permit its up and down motion within said sleeve.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described for a purely illustrative and in no way limitative purpose, with reference to the attached drawings, wherein:

FIG. la is a perspective view of the stickholder;

FIG. 1b is a similar view of the clutch;

FIG. 10 is a similar view of the sleeve;

FIG. 1d is a similar view of the case of the embodiment;

FIG. 2 shows how the clutch is fitted into the stickholder; and

FIG. 3 shows the assembly of these two components with the sleeve;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 5 is an axial section through the assembled stickholder, clutch and sleeve, showing the stickholder engaged in its lowermost position;

. FIG. 6 is a similar view, but showing the stickholder in its disengaged position;

. FIG. 7 shows the completely assembled stick with the stickholder in its uppermost position;

FIG. 8 is a similar view showing the stickholder in its retracted position and the removed cap of the container.

With reference to FIGS. la1d, the device comprises a stickholder 2, a clutch 6, a sleeve 4 within which said stickholder and clutch are slidable and a case 8 receiving sleeve 4. It is completed by a cap 40 shown in FIG. 8, which may be fitted over the free portion of sleeve 4.

A horizontal disk 16 integral with the stickholder closes the interior of the stickholder. The wall portions between said disk and the upper rim of the stickholder define a well 10 intended-to receive and retain the base of a cosmetic stick. The well is provided with means to prevent any undesired separation of said stick from said well. In the embodiment shown, these means are two opposite horizontal slits 12 and two inwardly extending fins 14 provided in the well walls.

' A horizontal rectangular cut 18 extends over part of the lower portion of the stickholder wall.

The clutch 6 comprises a generally curved segment 24 serving as a grip in the assembled device, and a horizontal shelf 20 connected to said grip by two projecting arms 28 forming extensions of its short sides. Thus said arms 28, the internal surface of grip 24 and the rim 32 of shelf 20 extending between said arms delimit an opening 26. A spring 34 is fastened to the long side of shelf 20 opposite rim 32.

The sleeve 4 is also tubular, of an internal diameter such that the stickholder 2 may move within it with a slide fit. As shown in FIGS. 10 and 4, two vertical, spaced apart but not diametrically opposite slots 22 extend from the lower rim of sleeve 4 upward, to form a smaller curved sleeve segment 5 and a larger curved sleeve segment 7. The slot edges 30 which delimit the smaller segment 5 are serrate. As it can be better seen in FIG. 4, the distance between the serrated borders is such that the sleeve segment 5 just fits between the two arms 28.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 6, stickholder, clutch and sleeve are assembled by simply inserting shelf 20 into the slot 18 of stickholder 2 until the two terminal portions of the shelf side 21 abut against the vertical edges 19 of slot 18, and slipping the sleeve 4 over the stickholder 2 until the sleeve segment 5 has passed between the interior face of grip 24 and the external face of stickholder 2 and thence through opening 26, thus securing clutch 6 to stickholder 2. The shelf rim 32 has a pawl tooth profile and is kept engaged with the teeth of the serrate border 30 by a compression spring 34 placed between the shelf face 21 and the internal face of the stickholder 2. The arms 28 of the shelf are sufficiently long to provide a horizontal play between the serrate edges 30 and the rim 32 sufficient to move the latter in and out of engagement from said teeth.

Case 8 is also of a tubular shape, with a base 41 conveniently provided with an annular groove 42 surrounding it to receive the bottom rims of the assembled stickholder and sleeve 4.

A wall segment, extending from the upper case rim to the vicinity of the base 41 is cut away to form an opening which is laterally delimited by two vertical borders 38. This opening is intended to receive the grip 24 when the assembled stickholder, clutch and sleeve are inserted into case 8. Along the radially external portion of each border 38 runs a small flange 39. The flanks 36 of the grip 24 have a profile complementary to said borders 38, with an approximately rectangular groove 43 running from the top to the bottom of said flanks to coact with said flanges in order to keep the outer surface of grip 24 parallel or even flush with the cylindrical surface of case 8. The cross-section of grip 24 is trapezoidal, with the lower base being narrower than the upper one. Furthermore the slot 18 in sleeve 2 is higher than the shelf 20. Therefore the clutch 6 is permitted a small clockwise motion around the point of contact of the top of grip 24 with the wall of sleeve 4, as shown in FIGS. and 6. The depth of the serrations of edge 30 is designed in such a manner, that this small rotation is sufficient to disengage the rim 32 from said serrations. Owing to this provision the stickholder can be disengaged from said teeth even if it is in its lowermost position in case 8. To keep the top of grip 24 adherent to the sleeve wall even when the stickholder is in its uppermost position, in which the shelf abuts against the top of the vertical slots 22 of sleeve 4, the spring 34 is so positioned, that its line of action passes below the line of contact between the edge of rim 32 and the tooth in which said rim is engaged. In this manner, the spring 34 tends to rotate the clutch counterclockwise around said line of contact as an axis of rotation.

The cosmetic stick may be formed by using the container itself as a mold, with the stickholder retracted in its lowermost position, as shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 8. In this case, the slits l2 and the fins 14 will retain the cosmetic stick in well 10 as soon as the stick has hardened.

As shown in FIG. 8, the container is completed by a cap 40 which is slidable over that portion of sleeve 4 which projects above case 8.

What is claimed is:

1. A container for cosmetic sticks comprising:

a sleeve;

a stickholder axially reciprocable within said sleeve;

clutch means secured to said stickholder and movable therewith;

means on said sleeve meshing with said clutch means to lock said stickholder in desired positions within said sleeve;

the clutch further comprising a shelf and a grip fastened to it, said shelf and grip delimiting an opening between them, said shelf being movable within a slot in said stickholder and having a rim biased towards said means on said sleeve to lock said stickholder in said desired positions within said sleeve.

2. A container as per claim 1, wherein the sleeve is provided with two vertical slots defining in said sleeve two wall segments, one of said wall segments being insertable into said opening formed between said shelf rim and said grip.

3. A container as per claim 1, wherein the slot edges delimiting the wall segment inserted into the opening formed between said shelf and said grip are serrate and the shelf rim has a pawl tooth profile, spring means being provided to bias said rim towards said profile.

4. A container as per claim 1, further comprising a case surrounding said sleeve, an opening in the case wall having a contour matching the contours of said grip and delimited by two vertical flanged borders coacting with said grip to keep the outer surface of said grip parallel with the surface of said case.

5. A container as per claim 1, wherein said grip has a trapezoidal longitudinal section with its narrower base adjacent to the connection of said grip with said shelf. 

1. A container for cosmetic sticks comprising: a sleeve; a stickholder axially reciprocable within said sleeve; clutch means secured to said stickholder and movable therewith; means on said sleeve meshing with said clutch means to lock said stickholder in desired positions within said sleeve; the clutch further comprising a shelf and a grip fastened to it, said shelf and grip delimiting an opening between them, said shelf being movable within a slot in said stickholder and having a rim biased towards said means on said sleeve to lock said stickholder in said desired positions within said sleeve.
 2. A container as per claim 1, wherein the sleeve is provided with two vertical slots defining in said sleeve two wall segments, one of said wall segments being insertable into said opening formed between said shelf rim and said grip.
 3. A container as per claim 1, wherein the slot edges delimiting the wall segment inserted into the opening formed between said shelf and said grip are serrate and the shelf rim has a pawl tooth profile, spring means being provided to bias said rim towards said profile.
 4. A container as per claim 1, further comprising a case surrounding said sleeve, an opening in the case wall having a contour matching the contours of said grip and delimited by two vertical flanged borders coacting with said grip to keep the outer surface of said grip parallel with the surface of said case.
 5. A container as per claim 1, wherein said grip has a trapezoidal longitudinal section witH its narrower base adjacent to the connection of said grip with said shelf. 